Press Association
Course overview 

News is still the way that we get our information, whether it's from a newspaper, magazine, radio, television or website. We show you what makes news, where to find it and how to write it.

Who the course is for

Anyone who has to write news regularly, whether it's for an intranet site or a press release, a newspaper or a company magazine.

Learning objectives

  • What news is
  • Where to find it
  • How to write it
  • Who to structure it
  • Grabbing and holing a reader's attention Using words well
  • Editing your own writing Using quotes

Course outline

What news is
  • News depends on your audience. On a newspaper, a story for The Sun will differ from one aimed at Times readers. But there are certain things that always make news. We look at what these are, and how they apply to your audiences.

Where to find it
  • News is everywhere. But with a website to fill, all too many people rely on press releases being sent to them. This is called churnalism, and it's dull to write and dull to read. We look at more than 50 sources of news that are much more likely to interest readers and keep them reading.

How to write it
  • The classic formula for writing news is called the pyramid or inverted pyramid. We show you other ways to write a news story, when one is better than another and how to target your readers precisely.

Grabbing and holding a reader's attention
  • The first sentence of a story, called the intro (sometimes called the “sell”) is the one that makes readers decide to turn away or want to know more. There are few invariable rules in writing, but there are some strong guidelines on that opening sentence that will help you to catch readers' attention and make them want to know more.

How to structure it
  • It's vital that news stories follow a logical progression. All too often, though, they are a series of staccato sentences that appear to have little relation to the ones that precede and follow. We'll show you how to structure your words and sentences to make people read more and want to know more.

Using words well
  • People are reading less these days. They want their information quickly. Grab them or lose them. So we need to make sure that the words we use and the way we use them are making people read, rather than merely assuming that they are going to do so.

Using quotes
  • Quotes are an important part of news-writing. But all too often, they have clearly been made up, because human beings don't speak in 80-word sentences with lots of long, pompous words. We'll show you how to use quotes to give impact, rather than merely to fill a hole.

Editing your own writing
  • There are far fewer checks these days. The sub-editor is an endangered species, and a great deal more pressure is placed on writers to ensure they have written their news stories correctly in the first place. But seeing errors in your own writing is not easy. We'll show you some checks to put in place to avoid howlers or legal problems. 

Our partners, Press Association Training will be delivering this course on behalf on Journalism.co.uk.


Getting there

This course will be held at Press Association 292 Vauxhall Bridge Road London SW1V 1AE



About Press Association

The Press Association (PA) is the national news agency for the UK and Ireland and a leading multimedia content provider across web, mobile, broadcast and print. For the last 147 years PA has been providing fast, accurate feeds of text, data, photos and video. Today the business is increasingly focused on the delivery of complete products for both digital and print clients. 

The Press Association Training courses are specifically tailored to ensure they include the very latest developments in the rapidly changing world of the media.

All of PA's trainers are working journalists or PR professionals with the most up-to-date knowledge who always shape courses to the individual needs of those attending.